RISON - Rison remains perfect in 8-3A conference play as the Junior Wildcats blasted the Helena-West Helena Central Junior Cougars 38-6 at George Walker Field of Champions last Thursday to improve to 3-1 overall and 2-0 in league action.
The Junior ‘Cats dominated from the start, jumping out to a 22-0 lead by the end of the first quarter against a Helena team that Rison Coach Zach Branch said was missing some of its players due to suspension.
Rison quarterback Weston Phillips found Trent Pickett for a 32-yard touchdown pass to open the scoring with 6:21 left in the first quarter. Bryant Branch ran in the conversion to put the Junior Wildcats up 8-0.
Mason Johnson followed with a 42-yard touchdown with 3:46 left but the two-point attempt was no good, leaving it 14-0.
A little more than a minute later, Pickett picked off a Helena pass and returned it 45 yards for another score. Johnson’s conversion run stretched Rison’s lead to 22-0.
The Junior ‘Cats invoked a running clock for the second half by adding two more touchdowns in the second quarter.
Phillips’ capped another Rison scoring drive with 10-yard run, and Branch added the two-pointer to make it 30-0.
Branch then invoked the “mercy rule” on a one-yard touchdown run with 38 seconds left in the third. Phillips added the conversion to push the lead to 38-0.
Helena broke up the shutout with 72-yard touchdown pass with 5:30 left in the game. The two-point conversion was no good.
Johnson led the Junior Wildcats in rushing with five carries for 76 yards and a TD and two-point conversion. Phillips followed with 50 yards on the ground off five carries with a touchdown and two-pointer as well. He also threw a 32-yard pass to Pickett for another score.
Branch finished with 36 yards on five attempts with a touchdown and two conversion runs.
Layne Howard had two runs for 19 yards and Pickett had four rushes for 15 yards.
Defensively, Branch and Johnson led the team with six tackles apiece while Kylan Walker had four. Pickett …